Amid unease in ties, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will arrive here next week to hold talks with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj on August 13, during which key regional and bilateral issues will be d
Amid unease in ties, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi will arrive here next week to hold talks with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj on August 13, during which key regional and bilateral issues will be discussed, including the NSG issue.
Significantly, Mr Wang’s visit also comes just days after Chinese troops reportedly “transgressed” the border on land and by air in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand in July. China also stalled India’s Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership bid at the plenary meeting of the 48-nation grouping in June on the grounds that it was a non-NPT signatory.
Announcing the visit, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the leaders will discuss various issues of mutual interests including the upcoming multilateral meetings with G-20 Summit being held in China and the BRICS Summit being held in India. Sources were quoted by news agencies as saying in Beijing that Mr Wang would visit India from August 12-14 at the invitation of Ms Swaraj.
When asked whether India will raise the recent incident of transgression in Uttarakhand at the meeting, Mr Swarup said all international, regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest will be discussed.
However, he added that the defence minister has already made a statement and there are mechanisms, including at Army-to-Army level, to take care of such incidents. According to sources, the Indian side is likely to raise the issue of China scuttling India’s NSG membership bid. “Visit of foreign minister (Mr) Wang to India is part of the regular high level dialogue between the two countries,” Mr Swarup said.
Apart from India, Mr Wang will also reportedly visit Kenya and Uganda during his six-day trip starting from August 9. In its statement, the MEA on Friday said foreign minister of China Mr Wang will be visiting India next week. During his visit he will hold bilateral consultations with the external affairs minister on August 13, 2016. The visit of foreign minister Mr Wang to India is part of the regular high level dialogue between the two countries. Mr Wang visited India in June 2014 and was among the first foreign ministers to be received by the external affairs minister. Ms Swaraj had visited China in January-February 2015. Both foreign ministers have been meeting regularly on the margins of multilateral meetings. Most recently, they had met in Moscow during the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting in April 2016. During the visit, the two sides will discuss various issues of mutual interest including the upcoming multilateral meetings viz., G-20 Summit being held in China and Brics summit being held in India.”
